Secrets Revealed the new, complete one
by Lutherian
Summary: Sam has disappeared after her fathers death, but where is she and where did she get to?


Secrets Revealed

Secrets Revealed

By Lutherian.

Summary: After her father's death, Sam disappears. Where is she and why has she gone?

Category:  
Season: Season 8  
Pairing: Jack/Sam  
Rating: T.  
Warnings: It's got mentions of Pete in it and its got Kerry in it.  
Author's Notes: I am sorry about the wait on us, due to one bad review, I ended up with a bad case/dose of writers block, which one nice, good and lovely review helped to break through. Any reviews please can they be constructive- including flames (there's no need to bash some one in a very bad review) and just tell me what you think of the new, improved, completely finished, whole version of this.  
Disclaimer: Stargate SG-1 and its characters are the property of Showtime/Viacom, MGM/UA, Double Secret Productions, and Gekko Productions. This story was created for entertainment purposes only. No copyright infringement is intended. The original characters, situations, and story are the property of the author(s).  
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Sam was sat there, next to father's death bed stunned. He was gone, her dad was gone and she couldn't believe it. She felt the tears running down her face and was going to wipe them off when she saw a white tissue appear in her hand and she looked up and saw General O'Neill standing there next to her, hand out ready to help her up. "Come on, lets get you out of here, shall we?" he said. With one last shared look at her father, Sam nodded and let him help her up.

"Would you like me to get Daniel or Teal'c to drive you home, or would you prefer to say on base?" he asked her, concern for her making his voice softer than usual. He smiled at her, relieved when she nodded. "Do you want to go to your lab first?" he asked, knowing that she probably had an experiment running on her laptop. She groaned, "My laptop, I've got an experiment running on it, which I wanted to check 3 hours ago. I hope Felger hasn't got to it yet."

However they had just about got to her lab, when Felger came flying round the corner, took one look at her and said very profusely "I'm so sorry, it was an accident!" they then heard the bang of Sam's falling laptop. Sam winced and she began to glare at him. His face went as white as a sheet and he backed off, saying, "I didn't mean to do it," before running in the opposite direction and around a corner.

Sam just sighed, thinking this was the LAST thing she needed right now and she was just about to rush to her lab, smiling an 'Oh well' at Jack, when guess who turned up but a Miss Kerry Johnson. 'Who else, she thought wearily, who else could possibly turn up but her', her shoulders slumped in defeat.

Jack, who had been watching the whole conversation with Felger and was trying to figure out where Felger had been running off to, had turned to her and was about to say something when he saw some one come up to them out of the corner of his eye. He was just about to turn his head in their direction, when he heard some one with a very familiar voice say, "Hi Jack, Lt Col. Carter." Kerry nodded to them both respectively. Jack's eyes went wide in surprise at seeing her, as if to say 'What are you doing here?' He then looked at Sam and noticed her now slumped position. 'Oh boy' he thought, 'NOW what do I do?'

Kerry meanwhile had continued and was saying to Sam "I'm so sorry to hear about your father's death, he was indeed an honourable man and he will be missed".

Sam just smiled slightly in reply, raising her shoulders just slightly. Kerry then turned to Jack and said "Jack, I'm really sorry to bother you with this but my cars broken down, so I was wondering if you could give me a lift back to the airport, as I really need to get some work done soon," she finished, smiling hopefully at him. Jack sighed and then said heavily, "Ok, fine. Carter, will you be ok?" he asked her, turning his head to face her. He thought he saw a brief look of resignation sweep across her face but it was gone before he could question it. "I'll be fine sir," was all she said in reply.

As she began to move to her lab, he caught her arm and said "Seriously, are you ok with this?" his dark eyes intense. She just replied, "Yes, I'm sure I'm fine. You don't need to worry about me." Jack was taken aback at just how quiet and accepting she was at Kerry's request, which sent off alarm bells in his mind, but he could deal with that later. "Ok, so are you ready to go?" he asked Kerry, as he walked to her side. Seeing Sam walk to her lab, called out to her "Don't be long, I'll just get Daniel to…"

In that instant, he saw Daniel walking up towards them and said "Daniel, Carter's going to go home, can you please make sure she doesn't take too long to pack up, and then can you take her home?" Daniel replied, smiling "Sure, do you want any help packing up, Sam?" "Yeah thanks Daniel," she said smiling, as she paused by the door. "Bye sir, bye Kerry" she added to the retreating couple, before going into her lab. Daniel added, "Yeah bye Jack", before turning back to look worriedly at Sam, who was almost too quiet. He heard her say alarmingly, "WHAT! No, this can't be happening!" and he quickly rushed in to the lab, saying, "Sam what happened, what's been going on here….?"

For Jack, the sounds of their voices trailed off, as he walked further away from them and he sighed so heavily that Kerry noticed "Jack, what's wrong?" she asked him, "Is Lt. Col. Carter all right?", concern for her showing in her voice. All Jack could say was, "I don't know Kerry, I just don't know" with a worried tone in his voice, as they reached the locker room and left to get to the elevator and on to the surface.

Meanwhile, Daniel was beginning to become increasing worried about Sam; she seemed to him to be far too quiet. 'Ok, he reasoned to himself, she HAS just lost her father but she wasn't this quiet until she saw….Kerry,' he realised, as he remembered seeing how low Sam had seemed around her and Jack. With that he turned to Sam, who was busily trying to mend her almost ruined laptop, and asked her, "Sam what's going on between Jack and Kerry?" He became seriously worried when Sam threw him a startled look "It's nothing," she replied hurriedly.

Now Daniel knew that something was up and that it involved Jack, he wasn't going to give up. So he reached out his hand, gently turning her towards him with one hand on her chin, to make her look at him. "Are you sure?" he asked seriously. She nodded before bursting into tears and throwing herself into his arms, sobbing her heart out.

Daniel, for his part just held her, and let her cry it all out. When she was done, he just switched off her laptop and turned off the lights, quietly leading her out of the room. He waited for her to lock the door and put his arm around her, leading her to the locker room to allow them both to get her stuff, as he had luckily locked up his office before coming round to see Sam and check on her. "Let's get you home" was all he said, as they then headed up to the surface.

Jack almost half way to the airport when Kerry spoke up "Jack, I'm sure she'll be fine, she seemed like a strong person to me," trying to reassure him. "Come on, smile", he tried a half hearted one, then Kerry added "For me, please, Jack." He couldn't help but smile genuinely at her, before facing the road again, but the truth was Sam was worrying him; she was too subdued and accepting for his liking.

Ok, her father had died but still something was nagging at him about her, as if something wasn't right. She'd seemed ok when they had headed to her lab; in fact she'd only changed when… Kerry had arrived. Kerry couldn't have upset her THAT much, could she? He wondered unhappily, unaware what it was showing in his face. Kerry sighed wistfully, wishing that she hadn't dumped him, but she had. Luckily Jack was too preoccupied with his own thoughts to hear her sigh.

He remembered earlier that day, when she had been to talk to him at his cabin and the question she had been just about to ask him. Then, Kerry had walked out, talking happily with a loving smile on her face, obviously leaving Sam no doubt that they were together, JUST as she had been having doubts about Pete. 'Great timing O'Neill, he thought, just great! Now she thinks that you've moved on, just as she realised that she hasn't been able to, and now Jacob, her dad, is dead.'

'No wonder she's been quiet', he thought to himself angrily, 'she's dealing with a fiancé, who probably isn't too happy that he can't know everything that his future wife does for a living, a wedding to organise AND a rat ass of a CO, who, by all appearances, looks like he's moved on. Now to make it all worse, her dad's just died. She must be feeling miserable right now but to be fair to him, she had been moving on, even if it DID take her two whole weeks to say yes to Pete. Why, oh why, did he not notice how all this had been affecting her before. He was her CO, for crying out loud, he should have seen it happening!'

'Oh,' his conscience spoke up, 'but, you've been distracting yourself from it, and her, with Kerry and paperwork, haven't you? Remember planning to go to the cabin, WITH Kerry and just 'relaxing''? It taunted him, reminding him of exactly why he had got together with Kerry in the first place. He was just about to make a mental angry retort at it, when Kerry said "Jack, we're here, you know at the airport? She said, mentally nudging him after she had noticed he was off in his own world.

"Oh yeah" he said, as he finally reoriented himself and shaking his head quickly. Kerry smiled sadly at him, unable to believe that she had let him go and therefore he wasn't her problem to help anymore but she had the niggling urge to do something about this to help him out and so she waited until he had picked up her bags from the boot, before saying hesitantly… "Jack, I know this isn't my place anymore but is there anything you want to talk about… you know about Lt. Colonel Carter?" and she waited, hopeful of the response she was looking for.

Realising what she was doing and how knowing much he had already hurt Sam and would hurt her even more if he DID talk to Kerry about her, shook his head and said "I'm sorry Kerry but you've said it yourself, its between Sam and myself now. Thank you for the concern and the push but we need to sort it out for ourselves now." He paused for a second and then picked up the last big grey duffel bag that was next to the car and looked pointedly at her, asking in a very final manner "Now, which plane is yours?" He was pointing to the planes with his other hand, as he asked it and she felt her jaw drop at the way he was now speaking to her, she just couldn't believe it.

He had been so warm and understanding towards now he was being stone cold… then it hit her and boy did it hit her hard. She had been so trying to take the place of Lt. Colonel Carter that she hadn't realised HE had been using HER in response and so had allowed herself to be hurt and used as a result. She felt like a bucket of cold water had been thrown over her, shocked at what Jack thought she had been trying to do- he thought she was trying to get him back, as to her knowledge he had yet to make a move on Lt. colonel Carter and was still free!

What she didn't actually know and only found out later that day was that he was already planning to take Sam to his cabin, allowing her to take some much needed time out and space for a few days before talking through his feelings for her WITH her and finally sorting something out between them. 'He was taking her advice at long last and here she was trying to get back with him! No wonder he was suddenly stone cold towards her' she thought, as she shamefully closed her eyes, bowing her head at the way she had sounded, her conscience nagging at her to apologise.

She sighed, causing him to look at her sharply, as she raised her head to look sorrowfully at him and was about to stumblingly apologise when he put his hand up to stop her and Kerry felt her heart stop, her face falling, as she looked into his cold, dark eyes and saw hate and distrust in them.

"I…" she stumblingly started only to find Jack didn't want to hear it, as she found him looking warningly back at her "Don't" was all he said. "Now" Jack continued, seeing her finish what she had been trying to say, "I think its best if you left now, don't you?" he pointedly told her, as he continued to lead the way he had started to lead them to the airport terminal and Kerry just numbly followed him in his wake.

Meanwhile, Daniel was driving Sam home and was looking very worried and concerned about her, as he watched her profile in the windscreen mirror. She was being too quiet now and it had worried him ever since her breakdown in her lab. In fact, she hadn't spoken a word about it since. 'What could have upset her THIS much' he wondered, 'was this about Jack and the woman he was with? "What had happened?" and "what was this about?" He shook his head puzzled.

He was full of questions and as he turned to look at Sam, who sniffing miserably he resolved to answer them as soon as he possibly could.

In fact he was so determined, he decided to start there and then, so keeping an eye on the road and flickering back to her face to see her reaction he began to ask her.

"Sam, you would tell me if something was wrong, right…wouldn't you?" he carefully asked her, unsure of her reaction or response to his question and so was very relieved when she said "Yes" in a tired, quiet and small voice. 'Well that's a start he thought, now for the next question'. Sam on the other hand didn't like where this line of questioning was going and Daniel knew it.

However Daniel carried on undeterred, as he then asked "What's wrong Sam?" and he watched her take a deep breath in response. Sam knew she had to tell him and with that, she slowly began to collect her thoughts together enough to tell him. "Well Daniel, you know how the general and I have always seemed to have feelings for each other…" she began, to which Daniel said "Yes Sam I know", resisting the urge to roll his eyes at obviousness of her statement, knowing just how much it had taken for her to actually admit to it in the first place. "Well I found out that he was… what did you just say you KNOW?!" and he just sighed in frustration at her surprise to his response.

"Yes Sam, I know!" turning to her briefly as he said it, "heck I'm sure the whole of the base knows by now, there have been bets running on you two for how long now!"

Sam was stunned, her jaw dropping in shock "What you mean the whole base knows that we had, I mean had feelings for each other?!" she exclaimed in a stunned outrage, "But we would never or never did do ANYTHING unprofessional about it!" "I know Sam but… he trailed off realising what she had said, never did do? What does that mean?" he asked in alarm at the statement, turning startled to face her in shock before turning back to face the road.

"Exactly what I said Daniel, now can we drop it please?" she asked him, trying desperately to forget what she knew. Daniel however wasn't about to be discouraged "Come on Sam, what does that mean?" he asked her, trying to get an answer and Sam just replied in a tired, weary voice " It means Daniel, that whatever we meant to each other is gone, especially now as he's with Kerry and I've just been with Pete."

"Just been??" he questioned her "Ok fine, I've just dumped Pete, it wouldn't have worked out anyway and besides I didn't love him…" "You love Jack" he finished for her with a grin, "Yeah I do only its too late now, as he's moved on to be with her". She emphasised the last word, finishing with a slow, wistful sigh.

"What?? Who do you mean Sam, who is he with?" Daniel immediately reacted in outrage, thinking 'how dare he do this to her and completely unable to believe it!' "You've already meet her Daniel, it's a miss Kerry Johnson, you know the one you saw him walk to the surface" "But he loves YOU, not HER… his voice trailed off as he realised actually who Kerry Johnson was… You mean Jack's going out with her??" he asked incredulously, his eyes wide, as stunned he continued to say "but I always thought he was going to go out with you!"

"Yeah Daniel, so did I, so did I" she sadly told him, her head slumped in rejection.

Daniel was quietly fuming as they drove on in silence.

'How dare he! He knew that he loved her, so why do this to her now? They were so close or maybe they were too close...'he hissed, running his hand through his hair. 'If this was because of the regs…' "Damn" he said quietly to himself, attracting Sam's attention, who seemed just slightly worried.

"Daniel, are you ok?" she asked, looking over at him and he sighed. "Yeah Sam I'm fine, what else would I be."

'What had happened, what WAS this about? He couldn't get his head around it. He was stumped for the first time in his life, he felt like putting his hands up in the air out of pure frustration but realised he couldn't, as his hands came off the wheel.

He was full of questions when he realised he had heard Sam sniffing quietly in the corner and found himself resolving to find the situation as soon as possible but to do that he needed to get Sam to open up first.

"Uh Sam, you would tell me if anything was wrong, wouldn't you? He asked patiently, unsure of what her reaction would be and so you can imagine his relief when her response was "yes". Fortunately for him, it was.

"Daniel…Sam sighed, running her hair before it hit her thigh, I don't know what's going on. All I know is the Colonel doesn't like me anymore and I'm stuck, I'm lost, I'm hopeless and it's all because of her fault. I don't have a clue what to do right now, my fathers died, Pete's left and I'm lost."

"Well, that's a start" he thought to himself, now to find out what's up.

He watched her as she turned back to him, surrendered to the fact she WAS lost, "Oh Daniel, I don't know what to do about him." "Who Jack?"

"Of course.", "Sam, what's wrong?" and Sam took a deep breath, before telling him it all.

Daniel sighed and smiled a sad smile "Oh jack, what you got yourself into now? Why have you done this?" he slowly thought before shaking his sadly and driving off to her drive way.

"I thought the colonel and I had something special or so I thought." She bitterly complained to herself, "Huh, what?", "you can go through the door, Daniel, waved to the door, it is open you know." "Oh I know", she walked through, only to start pacing the floor, "how could he, how could he do this to me, you know?" she turned on the floor and asked Daniel, "No Sam, I'm sorry but I don't know."

"Oh." Her head threw up in frustration. Daniel choose this point to try and relieve her stress and spoke up "Maybe he didn't know what he was doing though", only to find Sam's response was "Daniel, thank you, it is a nice thought, I just wish it was true though. Daniel was deflated "Oh, ohhh."

"I just wish I knew what I was going to do, what can I do when I can't get rid of these thoughts. I already can't get rid of them! OH!" she sighed to herself in frustration, her hands on her head, as she bent down, "well at least you've sat down and stopped pacing the floor" Daniel said and at Sam's look, added, "it was just a thought". She sighed, "Well thank you Daniel, it was a nice thought."

She looked where she had sat, down at the chair itself, 'it was his favourite chair' she thought. "Err Daniel, I hope you don't mind but I'm kicking you out. I think I need to be left alone."

"Ok, said Daniel, when you want to/ need to talk, just let me know. I'll always be there for you, you know." She smiled a soft smile, "Thank you Daniel and yes I do know, thank you for the lift home" and Daniel sighed as he shut the car door on himself.

'Phew' he thought.

Meanwhile, Sam, for once, was doing some planning of her own…..

"Now I know what I need to go but can I take it all? No, she said to herself, knowing where it was on her bike she needed to go, no, let's just go." She loaded up her bike, put on her helmet and thought 'let's go' as she rip roared up the road.

The road was rough with stones on a track road, which was up by a smaller by road, which in itself was very rarely actually walked. She fought to maintain her control before leaving her bike by the side of the road. She walked on, before she found what she was looking for- another country lane or a by road, only this road was a special road. It had once been a drive way. It was now blocked off and behind cones, so she propped up her bike behind the cones.

Using her special code, she undid her lock and connected it up with her own bike lock, before ensuring it as safe from the cold. She grinned to herself as she saw how the cover fitted in nicely with the cones.

It was quite a walk to the secluded cove, up a little bit of rock in a grove. It was a long grove. By this point, she taken her helmet and gloves off and she still hadn't got to the cove. She did manage it half an hour later though.

'It was such a relief to be home! She loved it here' she thought, looking around at the cove, it was her own quiet little cove, which no one else owned. Not even Pete had made a mark on her cove.

Jack had arrived back at the SGC, only to find himself get a grilling from Daniel.

"Daniel, I know I need to talk to her, I know", "well here's the phone and she is at home", "Fine Daniel, just give me the phone" he moaned.

"Daniel, she's not at home, "but… I thought", Jack sighed, Daniel she's not picking up her phone." "Now are you sure she is at home?" Jack asked, wondering why Daniel was looking mystified at Jack and himself.

"Yes, I'm sure she's at home, I took her home myself, remember", "Are you sure she's not sleeping at home?" "She just said she needed some time alone, so she's not sleeping, no. She DID kick me out, you know!"

"No, I didn't know", Jack sounded surprised at himself, 'why would Sam kick out Daniel out of her house, unless she had somewhere else to go….'

"Daniel, I need to borrow your phone. I need to know where Sam needed to go." he more or less or ordered or rather commanded Daniel, "Now have you got Pete or Mark's phone or mobile numbers?" "No." Daniel appeared quite sullen, "then I'll have to look it up in her file."

"Mark?" "Is this Pete", Mark asked, "No it's Sam's boss, commander and chief, "Oh", it's O'Neill, we recently meet at Jacob's funeral." "Oh, hello." "Now I can't get hold of Carter's mobile or home number and she's not at home, so where would she go?" "I don't know", "Where would she go, please?" "It depends whose asking", "meaning?" "Are you a friend or foe?"

"A friend but with a bit of foe and no, she's not awol", "well, as a friend, I'd say leave her alone but as a foe, you can give her some peace by letting her know."

Mark sighed "huh, now this isn't something that you're supposed to know but there's a small cabin, up in the trees and nestled in the woods as well as being nestled in a secluded cove, now do you know?" mark asked, quietly hoping that he didn't know, only to be told "Oh, I know", in the tone of voice that told him that O'Neill definitely knew, "you know! How **do** you know?!" he asked, puzzled, as Pete didn't even know.

"I went up there to be in the nestled in the trees in that gorgeous cove." "Oh, it _is_ a gorgeous cove. It almost makes me feel guilty that it **is** Sam's cove" Mark agreed, smiling in the memory of that cove.

"Just don't let Sam know how you know, ok please?" "Agreed" " Now off you go and let Sam breathe", "of course I will do", "huh, that's not what I mean", "ok then, huh, what _do _you mean?", "Don't worry about what it didn't or did mean or meant, he replied almost laughing, " just go and there and please help her to find it."

"Huh?" "It was her peace or rather her inner peace, I meant" Mark said with a hugs grin or a smile on his face "now go and get it!" "I'm going, I'm going…" "He's gone", Daniel remarked with a somewhat stunned and perplexed look on his face.

He was about to turn to Teal'c looking rather perplexed when a hurrying jack came rushing into the room and started looking for something.

Just then, Jack reappeared "Huh, T- Jack was a bit surprised as Teal'c had just come into the room- Daniel; I think I need my keys, oh…" "O'Neill, I believe I have retrieved the item you need", "Indeed, thank you Teal'c, "I believe you have all the good luck that you need", "Thank you for supporting that need, "and from me too Jack", thank you Daniel for also supporting that need."

"It's not only HER home now, is it?" Teal'c just asked with a smile and Jack smiled back, replying "No Teal'c, her home's now with me."

"I'm also sure Cassandra Frasier would also strongly support this need." Jack gaped at him in pure astonishment, to which Teal'c very dryly said "I see she left that out", "Why, thank you for that Teal'c, now I need to leave, Jack said with a slight respecting nod of his head to both Teal'c and then to Daniel, for respecting his need, before dashing straight back out the door again.

"Well, Daniel remarked, I'm glad- very glad- that he knows what Sam now needs". "For a second there, I was a bit worried" Daniel said, exchanging a relieved, yet worried look with Teal'c at the uncharacteristic ness of all of this. "Ok, now what are we going to do about this?" "Wait and see, Daniel Jackson, wait and see." wisely said Teal'c.

Meanwhile Jack was driving, in fact he was very busy driving and trying to control his truck, "come on, where is it?" h he said to himself, looking around for a small bend in the road. A bend in the road, which appeared, for some reason, to actually be missing. "Maybe if I indicate left…" it really **was** no where to be seen.

"Yes, I've _just_ seen it, Sam, Teal'c, Daniel, this is it!", only to be surprised when he just caught himself and remembered that he **was** on his own for once it seemed.

Maybe that was a good thing, considering the road itself was rockier than it seemed, "It wasn't as rocky as this before now, was it? I don't or I didn't remember this before like this, so what is it. This isn't the way it was meant to be, was it?"

His eyes widened in surprise 'oh, of course!, this isn't the way it once was, some one's added some more new boulders to it, hang on a minute, whose is this, it can't be Sam's, can it?!' Then he thought some more about it, only to come up with the conclusion 'It is Sam's isn't it, that's the only way I can explain this. Now how am I going to get past this? What am I going to do about it? Oh, he winced, I'm thinking I'm walking correction, I know I'm walking', as a burst tire released a large puffy cloud of gas, air and smoke.

He got out, "Oh, ok, now how am I going to park this?" and suddenly feeling very glad that he was still physically fit, he pushed it on the side of the road of the trail/track, only to hear another burst as he did it- "Crap" he said as he winced and was very feeling very worn out as a result of it.

"Ok, no where's that grove that leads me off this road" he said quietly to himself, looking around, "there it is and hang on, what is this…." It was large traffic cones with a large object shaped behind them, 'behind them, why would anyone put a shape _behind_ them?' "Eh?" It was a large bike shaped object on a closer inspection…. "It's an Indian!" "Sam's bike is an Indian…" His eyes widened in surprise at it, before slowly pulling the cover off, as if unsure of what was underneath it, only to reveal Sam's Indian. It had been there all along.

"Hallelujah, I've found it. So if the bike is here, then Sam's where? Oh, she'd be at the secluded cove in the cabin. That' means she's been hiding from all of this over there, he pointed in a sw direction, oh that's a relief", he said, as if he was just recovering from a scare.

Right after putting the bike cover securely back into its original place, he went up and climbed the grooved ridge.

Only to find that he as very much relieved when he had climbed to the highest point of the ridge. "Whoa!" h said, having forgotten all about this…

It was gorgeous from the ridge, the cove itself was a beautiful, tropical paradise type of an island, just stuck there by itself and the cabin only added to it.

"Ok, now what is it?" he asked himself, only hearing the tinkling of a bell.

"Huh, you can step away from the bell now, this, there is a wire attached to it and you're standing on it."

He turned around, only to find Sam standing next to it, "Oh and can also tell me please, do you always talk this much when there is no on else to talk about it?" she said with a teasing grin on her face, "huh, oh come on and don't worry about it, come on in", she said, as she waved him in. She was laughing to herself, 'well it's not too often that Jack O'Neill is lost for words now, is it?' she thought to herself, 'hell, no!', only to find herself grinning with another teasing grin.

"Hey, I did say you could come in" she shouted out to him, only to hear him call "coming" and he walked in, only to be greeted by her teasing grin.

"Huh, Carter, what are you thinking? I'm just wondering.", "Nothing!"

"Nothing, now tell me why do I find that so hard to believe", only to be perplexed by her bursting out laughing- it did her the world of good to be out here relaxing, he could see or even tell that. "Now, please tell me, would you like a drink of something?" she asked as a polite hostess, "something?" he asked, arching his eyebrows, "as I said, something" and with that, she moved to reveal the drinks cabinet.

"You can have anything except for the bourbon and the Baileys; they're my mum and dad's favourites."

"Their favourite's bourbon and baileys are your favourites??"

He was puzzled by Sam's reaction, as she laughed at him, only shaking at the steady sustainability of something.

"No, her left hand sweeping, the bourbon was my dad's favourite and the bailey's my mums and mine, though I don't mind the odd beer sometimes."

"You know the secret behind the bailey's and beer, Mum always used to come up to this place and one night, she and dad had a fight and she came up here in a taxi cab, only there as a collision that night and that's what we drank to remember her that night. That small road that used to be the drive way was blocked off that night."

"Oh Sam, I am so sorry to hear that." "Oh, it's all right, mum wouldn't mind."

"Anyway on the subject of beers, here's a beer if you're interested, handing it out to him, "So you inherited this place?" "Yes I did and I'm so glad I did, since I've been able to look after it."

"How's your beer, its ice cold isn't it", "well yes…", "well honestly, what did you expect from it, it's been in the fridge, hasn't it? So what do you honestly expect from it?"

She sat down suddenly "I'm sorry about this, everything about or around me just seem to be cold or very cold recently" and Jack got the distinct impression things towards him were VERY cold, especially as he was judging from the fact she was sat the farthest away from him, in the comfiest chair in the room and she was looking far, far, away from **him.**

"Sam, what's wrong, what's going on here apart from the obvious things?" "What like Kerry or Miss Johnson?"she said as she was clutching her bourbon, "what?", "you heard me", "what about Kerry or Miss Johnson; I could say the same thing about Pete."

"I broke up with Pete", "I left Kerry or rather, Kerry left me" "what?" "WHAT!" They were both stunned and flabbergasted, "but I thought you were happy with Pete?" "But I thought that you were happy with Kerry?"

"But I WAS!" They both said together, before walking round each other "I left him", "she left me. She didn't want to compete." "With who, with me?" she asked, almost incredulously, "even though we can't do anything?"

Jack turned to Sam incredulously, "Yes, you!" "Me?!" Sam as stunned, she didn't know what to believe, she didn't know whether she as shocked, stunned or relieved, so she was all three.

"She left because of me. Me?" Sam didn't know quite what to believe and for once it was plain to see.

Jack however had been thinking "hang on, so you left Pete **because **of me. Is that it?" he asked trying to make sense of it, as she stopped turning to face him and she sighed when she did "Yes I did. I only figured it out when he brought for us, for me and all I wanted was my very own cabin one with Pete especially. More precisely, what I wanted as a cabin with you in it, so your own cabin", "so my cabin?" Jack found himself asking in disbelief,

"Yes, your cabin and with you in it, without Pete. I've already taken off my engagement ring" she said showing him, "you mean…" "I mean you're the first family member in the SGC or I should say SG1- in fact you're the closest one, to visit from SG1, this cabin. Not even Pete's seen it and he didn't even know about this honour."

"Pete didn't know about this honour?", "no, he didn't", "so you never told him about it?" "No, never, I didn't trust him enough to tell it", "Yet you trust me enough to tell it." "Yes, I do, that's why I've told you it, because I trust you with it."

"Well, I am surprised you know, I would have honestly thought that you had told him about it, he said, looking wide eyed in disbelief, oh heck, now I don't know what to think."

"Kerry didn't want to compete with you, you know.", "Oh, I know. This was my mother's house, you know", she said, completely changing the subject.

"No, I didn't know" he replied, looking at her admiringly for her memory of her wistfulness and how she kept looking at things.

"It was my mother's best kept secret, this place and well off the road. Only my mum, dad, mark and myself knew about this place, until it all changed, she finished with a wistful smile on her face, "suddenly the place were swarming about it too but we finally convinced them that I had inherited it and to leave it alone. I was the one to put the plants back into place."

"And it is well away from the road. I last visited this place a long time ago" Jack said, adding in his own. Sam simply went "oh!"

"At the time, it was deserted but still tranquil, you know?" "Oh, I know, mum designed it to b so. She'd love you, you know." "Oh, I didn't expect her to be so…., "What?", "I don't know, a gardener, I suppose." "Oh, she laughed a delightful laugh and he knew he had completed his goal, she was a keen gardener."

"I know, I can tell from her garden, there's no pond though" "But there is a small stream down below.", "below?" and she said with a small smile, "Below" as pointed down to the bottom of the garden, right by the hose.

"oh." he said in relief, "Oh indeed" she said with a slight to beaming smile on her face and he grinned, knowing once again he had achieved his goal.

"Oh, I think it's time to go", "Jack, no, please don't go. It'll take you a while to get back on to the road and it's a dark, rambling road", "my tyres are gone though", "even more reason for you not to go", desperate for him to stay and not to go home.

"Sam, are you sure that you don't want me to go?" he asked as she meet him half way, "Oh Jack, I'm sure I don't want you to go home", "good, he said in reply, because I am home, so I won't go, because will mean not going home." "Jack, please leave me with the technical, science speak please." She said with a loving smile on her face, which he, to her joy, returned.

"Jack, I love you" she admitted, soft in her speech, to which he responded "Sam, I love you too and I don't want to ever let go", holding her in his arms. She replied cheekily "then, don't let go", "Oh, I won't let go", "never let go?" she asked and he laughed "Sam, I promise you I'll always never let go." Sam smiled as she kissed him and as the sun rose, she smiled his smile. She was home, for the simple reason, knowing that with her and her alone, he and he alone was home.


End file.
